When will the pain of 1997 go away?

[jeemak]

Like many a Prelim we really missed two big names that year due to injury.

Fossie with his broken leg after the disgusting kickcing and tripping by that dud from Hawthorn (whose name escapes but should have got 10 weeks), and the Brownlow medalist of that year, Wynd, out due to injury. Fossie would have stopped Brownless kicking goals and Wynd would have been the dominant big man. We had a great first half but died in the second half.

I think you mean the previous year's Norm Smith medalist, Paul Dear.

[jeemak]

Agree with the 1985 calls, but I was also shattered after 2008. We played our assess off against Geelong and should have been in front in the last qtr - we dominated almost the entire 2nd half and were running Geelong completely off their feet but completely butchered our goalkicking, with 8 points in a row (not including the Eagle not even making the distance from a set shot from 35 metres out dead in front, and also a few out of bounds on the full). I remember Minson clunking a couple of massive pack marks and then shanking his shots at goal. The final straw was Brad Johnson being borderline sexually assaulted by Max Rooke after taking a clear mark, and the umpire waving play on to kill the match off once and for all in time-on of the last qtr - we were still withing a couple of goals and still in it up to our eyeballs. Also had Higgins kicked 4.1 instead of 1.4 in the 1st qtr, it would have completely changed the course of the match - Milburn would have stopped playing off his man and going 3rd man in, which would have created more one-on-ones up forward, and instead of playing catch-up after a poor 2nd qtr we would have been level pegging at half time.

The only PF that doesn't do my head in is 1992, because we were nowhere near Geelong's class and were never a show. Considering our club virtually ceased to exist only a couple of years earlier, 1992 will always remain one of my favourite seasons of all time as a Dogs supporter. We ended up equal top with 16 wins, won an awesome final against a rampant St Kilda and saw a 19yo Chris Grant completely dominate a final off his own boot.

You've almost nailed it completely regarding 2008.

Our first week's showing against Hawthorn that year was absolutely disgraceful. I have a feeling it was miss-timed training, coupled with inexperience and a lack of awareness for what's required when taking a step up from home and away games through to finals football.

I think the showing against the Hawks softened me a little towards our performance in that preliminary final and the missed opportunity. There's still a part of me that thinks Geelong could have gone up another cog as they were clearly the best side for that year, though as Hawthorn showed they weren't on top of their game for a couple of weeks and were vulnerable.

The Rooke non-decision was an absolute calamity, and one that made me think there was a clear agenda to get certain sides to play in the last week of the finals (much like the charity afforded the Saints in the 2009 prelim).

1992 was the first year I really followed football with an awareness of how the game should be played. That year has so many fond memories as a result of that, as well as the fact it was when I really started to realise how awesom Chris Grant was. I couldn't get to or watch the game, if you believe it I was recording a CD at the time...........

[bornadog]

I think you mean the previous year's Norm Smith medalist, Paul Dear.

Yep, thanks for the reminder, I call him a dud for doing a dog act. No respect for the guy whatsoever.

[jeemak]

Yep, thanks for the reminder, I call him a dud for doing a dog act. No respect for the guy whatsoever.

Certainly a shocking performance when he did that.

All that aside, I'm not sure he was a paricularly good footballer anyway. Maybe handy's a better description (pretty sure he'd be labelled a "utility" on his footy card, which wasn't the best wrap in those days).

Though, I dare say when he pulls up stumps he's going to have a more impressive trophy cabinet than when I eventually do the same!

[Remi Moses]

The answer to this thread is sadly
No.

[Ghost Dog]

I wonder if Geelong supporters have forgotten their string of near misses in the 80s and 90s? You know, I am sure they probably have. Like a bad stitch, we have to just run it out.

[LostDoggy]

Like many a Prelim we really missed two big names that year due to injury.

Fossie with his broken leg after the disgusting kickcing and tripping by that dud from Hawthorn (whose name escapes but should have got 10 weeks), and the Brownlow medalist of that year, Wynd, out due to injury. Fossie would have stopped Brownless kicking goals and Wynd would have been the dominant big man. We had a great first half but died in the second half.

I will forever refer to him as 'that bastard Paul Dear'.

[BornInDroopSt'54]

Yep, thanks for the reminder, I call him a dud for doing a dog act. No respect for the guy whatsoever.

I met Paul Dear (a big unit) who was working as a computer tech at a TAFE I was teaching at and summoned the guts to have a go at him about the incident. To my surprise he didn't offer any apologies but claimed he was badly portrayed! Gutless wonder!

[LostDoggy]

He was out there, we weren't. Not sure calling him gutless gets us anywhere.

[bornadog]

I met Paul Dear (a big unit) who was working as a computer tech at a TAFE I was teaching at and summoned the guts to have a go at him about the incident. To my surprise he didn't offer any apologies but claimed he was badly portrayed! Gutless wonder!

as I recall, Dear was lying on the ground and as Fossie tried to run off he swung his leg in a kicking action and copped Foss a beauty.

Pretty sure ended Fossie's career.

[bulldogtragic]

Seems no matter what age demographic you fall into as a doggie, we all have more than our fair share of extreme disappointment.

[BornInDroopSt'54]

In 1961 Footscray went into the Grand Final against Hawthorn, who had never won a premiership (can you believe we had more premierships than Hawthorn???) in front of 107,935 spectators! We had beaten Hawthorn the one time we'd played them during the season, had beaten the favourites Melbourne in the prelim and lead at half time in the grand only to go down by 43 pts.
Does anyone have a memory of it? I remember the streamers along Buckley and other streets, but not the game. I was 7yo.

[LostDoggy]

In 1961 Footscray went into the Grand Final against Hawthorn, who had never won a premiership (can you believe we had more premierships than Hawthorn???) in front of 107,935 spectators! We had beaten Hawthorn the one time we'd played them during the season, had beaten the favourites Melbourne in the prelim and lead at half time in the grand only to go down by 43 pts.
Does anyone have a memory of it? I remember the streamers along Buckley and other streets, but not the game. I was 7yo.

A guy that works for me was in the U/19 at the time and went into the rooms at half time . He remembers that all the players were out on their feet and he felt for the worst. By all accounts it was a hot day.

[bulldogtragic]

In all seriousness, will we ever get to and/or win a granny? Reading this thread makes me wonder

[Sedat]

Fossie with his broken leg after the disgusting kickcing and tripping by that dud from Hawthorn (whose name escapes but should have got 10 weeks), and the Brownlow medalist of that year, Wynd, out due to injury. Fossie would have stopped Brownless kicking goals and Wynd would have been the dominant big man. We had a great first half but died in the second half.

I think you're referring to the QF against Geelong that year, not the PF. We got off to a flyer in the QF thanks the Justin Charles killing it in the ruck and the Snozz Del Re kicking a bag - might have gotten 5-6 goals up in the 2nd qtr from memory. Then G Ablett Snr kicked an unbelievable running left foot goal on the boundary from 60m out and Geelong went gangbusters for the rest of the game. We were never in the PF at any stage a couple of weeks later.

Geelong were a much better team than us over the course of season 2008, but on PF night we were up to our necks in it.